Travel
TRNSMT fans will be forced to leave EARLY during Liam Gallagher & Gerry Cinnamon
TRNSMT revellers face missing out on seeing the end of the festival to catch the last train home.
The national rail operator slashed hundreds of services from the timetable amid a bitter dispute with the train drivers.
Passenger services were thrown into chaos on the first day of the emergency timetable after the ScotRail app hadn’t updated to the new times.
The blunder angered scores of commuters and saw some waiting on platforms for trains which had been axed.
It has sparked fears festival-goers in Glasgow will be caught up in the travel chaos and face leaving headline acts early or face being stranded.
TRNSMT headliners Gerry Cinnamon and Liam Gallagher aren’t due to finish their much-awaited sets until 11pm.
Those leaving at the end of the shows face a 20-minute walk to the city’s Queen Street and Central stations.
But the final trains leaving the city on Friday and Saturday have been brought forward amid the butchered schedule.
The app and web blunder also means the new times for trains on Sunday aren’t known.
Infuriated revellers would have been able to enjoy the full show under the old schedule, but now face missing out under the new timetable –announced just days before TRNSMT is due to kick off.
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Those leaving the festival face a 20-minute walk to the city’s Queen Street and Central stations.
People heading back to Airdrie and Bathgate on a busy service running through parts of the east end of Glasgow would have been able to enjoy the whole show and catch a 12.23am train home.
But the new schedule has cancelled the last two trains and seen their final service brought forward by an hour to 11.23pm.
People returning to Stirling will have to leave well ahead of the end to catch the last 11.18pm service, instead of the normal 11.52pm.
Services running to Paisley leave just EIGHT MINUTES after acts end, departing at 11.08pm rather than 11.38pm.
Trains were slashed amid a pay row with trade union Aslef, with drivers now not coming forward to work rest days and overtime.
ScotRail have been dashing to hire more drivers, but overtime working is still needed to run a full timetable.
The dispute means it is unlikely extra services will be added to accommodate for the festival.
Emergency timetable could be just the beginning of rail chaos
ASLEF Scottish organiser Kevin Lindsay warned the emergency timetable could just be the beginning of rail misery across the country.
He added rail unions across the country are set to join Aslef in balloting for industrial action.
ASLEF, Unite, the TSSA and the RMT have all rejected a three-year deal from ScotRail.
It would see workers get a two per cent rise each April then a 1% rise the following January from this April until 2027.
Mr Lindsay told BBC Good Morning Scotland: “It’s not just going to be Aslef that are going to be balloting – RMT, Unite, TSSA union going to ballot as well.
“This is going to spread right across the whole of the public sector in Scotland until the Scottish government get real.
“It’s a fait accompli, a take it or leave it, and our members have told me they’re leaving it.”
It is also unclear if extra carriages will be added, sparking fears final services will be jam-packed.
People heading to TRNSMT were left fuming at the news, as they took to social media.
One said: “ScotRail cancelling the last two trains and having the last one at 11.23pm on Friday when TRNSMT finishes at 10.50ish is a joke.
“The train will be absolutely mobbed and like last year it will be very much ‘get on this one or be stranded here’ chaos that left people panicking.”
Another added: “ScotRail, every year when TRNSMT is on you guys make a mess of it.”
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A third said: “50,000 music fans trying to get to Glasgow for TRNSMT, great timing!
“Last train to Bathgate now 11.23pm, no good for everyone.”
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